More than 60 percent of organic vegetables in the trade come from Germany, just under 30 percent from the Netherlands and Spain, and the rest from other EU countries. This is according to a sample taken this August from eleven supermarkets, biotech markets and discounters in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Specialized organic markets far ahead
Organic carrot, zucchini and kohlrabi came almost exclusively from Germany. At least 60% of onions came from local cultivation. The remaining five vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, cucumbers and broccoli, came mainly from other EU countries.
"If you prefer local vegetables, you will find these particularly often in the organic markets of Denns and Alnatura. These also had the largest assortment of organic vegetables," says nutrition expert Rita Rausch of consumer center Rhineland-Palatinate. "Well-stocked were supermarkets REWE, tegut, Edeka or Kaufland. WASGAU and discounters Lidl, Netto Marken-Discount, Penny and Aldi had the smallest range of organic vegetables."
Extension of the range
The consumer advocates appeal to suppliers to comply with the wishes of many consumers and to increasingly offer organic vegetables from Germany -and better still, from the same region- and to have precise information available on the region of origin.
Customers should ask the store manager if there are no organic vegetables from Germany. A good alternative is vegetables from local organic farmers, at weekly markets and in farm shops.
All the results of the market check can be found -in German- on the Consumer Affairs website at www.verbraucherzentrale-rlp.de/marktcheck-biogemuese.